Fresh Fruit

These guys have just returned from their tembawang (see Tembawang) with a load of durian fruits (see Where'd all those durian trees come from?).  I'm a big fan of durian, and these are about as fresh and good as they get.

Many Years Ago in Pontianak

Pontianak, West Kalimantan during peak durian season (see Where'd All Those Durian Trees Come From), and the fruits are piled up in heaps on the sidewalk.  The seller is pleased that I want to take a picture of his fruit (which, indeed, is a beautiful durian), but the photo is mostly focused on my wife, Elysa, and first child, Case. This was a magical time. [NOTE: Case is currently a sophomore in college.  He still has that look]. 

Where'd all those durian trees come from?

Simple question with, in this case, an obvious answer.  The image below was taken behind a small lean-to ("pondok") in a managed forest orchard (see tembawang) in Bagak, West Kalimantan (see Bapaks from Bagak) during durian season. Villagers would stay in the orchard all night picking up the durian fruits that had fallen - and eating a large number of them. They'd throw the woody husks and seeds into a heap behind the pondok.

The next photo was taken behind the pondok a year later.  Every one of the plants shown in the foreground is a durian seedling. These will be selectively weeded every couple of years, and, eventually, at least one of them will make it up to the canopy and start producing fruit. [NOTE: There were dozens of pondoks scattered throughout the tembawangs of Bagak during durian season.  A wonderful place to spend an evening regenerating the forest].

Tembawang

Managed forest orchard in Bagak Sawah, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.  Every one of the trees shown has been planted or protected.

Selaku Dayak returning from his tembawang laden with durian (Durio zibethinus) fruits.  

I lived in western Borneo for a good part of the 1990's.   One of my favorite projects during this period  was a study of the managed forest orchards produced by Dayak communities.  These orchards, known locally as "tembawang", are some of the finest examples of tropical silviculture that I have ever seen.  Some tembawang contain over 125 species of trees together with bamboo, rattan, understory shrubs, and herbaceous medicinal plants.  The resultant mix is indistinguishable - to most eyes - from undisturbed Dipterocarp forest.  Further information about tembawang can be found here. [NOTE: Both images have been scanned from slides].